Nadiem on the 4-Year Prison Sentence for Ibam: Utterly Unreasonable
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek), Nadiem Makarim, considers the four-year prison sentence for Ibrahim Arief, or Ibam, to be utterly unreasonable.
According to him, his former technology consultant should have been acquitted in the alleged corruption case regarding the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.
“I was just shocked and stunned that Ibam was not acquitted yesterday. That’s one thing that I think is utterly unreasonable,” Nadiem said ahead of the prosecutor’s sentencing hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Wednesday (13/5/2026).
Nadiem views the dissenting opinion of the two judges as a truth that the public must heed in the Chromebook case.
“I hope the public truly pays attention to the decision from the two judges’ dissenting opinion because the truth is stated there, as mentioned by those two judges,” Nadiem said.
Therefore, he considers the verdict unreasonable because he believes Ibam is not guilty in this matter.
“I express my concern, hearing Bang Ibam’s verdict yesterday. It’s very saddening for me,” Nadiem said.
“Considering that for this reason, Member Judge II Eryusman and Member Judge IV Andi Saputra concluded that the defendant clearly does not meet all the elements charged by the Public Prosecutor (JPU), so he must be freed from all charges,” Andi stated during Ibam’s verdict hearing in the alleged corruption case of Chromebook laptop procurement, at the Jakarta Corruption Court, on Tuesday (12/5/2026), quoted from the Kompas TV YouTube broadcast.
Ibam is said to have only been a consultant tasked with listing Chromebook laptop prices based on marketplace rates.
“This shows that the defendant’s capacity was only as an information technology consultant, and not a pricing consultant or financial consultant, which is common in consulting practices as long as no collusion is found between the consultant and the goods provider, which in this case has not been proven that the defendant engaged in a criminal conspiracy or PMH with the principal, distributor, or reseller,” Judge Andi said.
Additionally, during the trial process, Ibam was not proven to have lobbied the budget managers at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology to select Chromebooks.
On the contrary, Ibam had even conveyed the weaknesses of Chromebooks to former Mendikbudristek Nadiem Makarim.